Lykes

Meat processor Smithfield Foods Inc. said Tuesday it plans to acquire the assets and business of the Lykes Meat Group from Lykes Bros. Inc. of Tampa. Terms were not disclosed. Lykes Meat Group makes Lykes and Sunnyland brands of smoked meats, bacon, boneless hams, sliced lunch meats and fresh and smoked sausage. It has plants in Florida and Georgia.

State water-management district officials have agreed to partially fund a project that will reduce the amount of groundwater pumped for irrigation at a 950-acre citrus grove in east Polk County. The $100,000 project involves installing a weather station and soil moisture sensors at the Camp Mack Grove northeast of Lake Wales, which will help with more precise irrigation, the Southwest Florida Water Management District reported. During freezes, the citrus grower will have exact weather information for the grove and can pump water at the best time, instead of pumping throughout the night.

A corporation's offer to donate property has brought a dream of establishing a private school closer to reality for a group of Lake County residents.Officials of Lykes Development Corp., a subsidiary of Lykes Brothers of Tampa, have informed the group they might be willing to donate about 20 acres should plans for a private school become concrete, group members said.Known as the Old Griffin Airport, the property in question is in Howey-in-the-Hills, Tavares attorney Mort Aulls said Wednesday.

TRANSPORTATION DELTA CHOOSES CHIEF FOR UNIT Delta Air Lines announced Wednesday that Fred Buttrell has been appointed president and chief executive officer of its Delta Connection subsidiary. Its units include Comair, Atlantic Southeast Airlines, AirElite Business Jets and the Comair Aviation Academy in Sanford. Buttrell, 39, was previously Delta's senior vice president for strategy and business development. He replaces David Siebenburgen, 54, who will become chairman of Delta AirElite, which markets corporate jet service.

MRS. WELLS, 2000 Semoran Blvd., Orlando, died Sunday. Born in Lykeslands, S.C., she moved to Orlando from Leesburg in 1975. She was a homemaker and a member of St. James Episcopal Church, Leesburg. Survivors: daughter, Frances Claytor, Columbia, S.C., Priscilla Wells, Winter Park; sons, Charles R., Edward M., both of Florida; sister, Eliza Blair, Riverside, Calif.; several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Page-Theus Funeral Home, Leesburg.

The global nature of Florida's citrus industry continues to grow.Lykes Bros. of Tampa said recently the company's citrus juice processing will be handled by a Brazilian-owned company beginning in fall 1999.Citrosuco North America's plant in Lake Wales will handle fruit delivery and convert the fruit to juice or frozen concentrate. The product will be trucked to the Dade City plant of Lykes-Pasco, a Lykes Bros. division. It will be packaged for shipment and retail sale there.Lykes-Pasco President Bill Burgess, said the decision to have another company process the fruit was ``difficult'' but necessary because of changing geographies.

Lykes Pasco Inc., one of Florida's largest citrus juice processors, will re-enter the fresh citrus packing business this season for the first time since 1945.The company, based in Dade City in Pasco County, recently acquired the former Orange-co Inc. packinghouse in Polk County and will begin shipping fruit through the house as early as next week, Pete Brock, a Lykes Pasco spokesman, said Friday.An expanding citrus crop rebounding from a string of freezes in the 1980s is part of the reason the company is getting back into the fresh-fruit side of the business, Lykes officials said.

State water-management district officials have agreed to partially fund a project that will reduce the amount of groundwater pumped for irrigation at a 950-acre citrus grove in east Polk County. The $100,000 project involves installing a weather station and soil moisture sensors at the Camp Mack Grove northeast of Lake Wales, which will help with more precise irrigation, the Southwest Florida Water Management District reported. During freezes, the citrus grower will have exact weather information for the grove and can pump water at the best time, instead of pumping throughout the night.

Edwards, of Dade City, former president of Lykes Pasco Inc. and member of the Florida Citrus Hall of Fame, died Tuesday in Dade City after a long illness. He was 75. Edwards' family founded Pasco Packing Association, the predecessor of Lykes Pasco, in 1936. Edwards, who became president of Lykes Pasco in 1961, built it into one of the largest citrus processing operations in the world.

PLANS TO open a $700 million casino has claimed a major corporate casualty:Lykes Brothers Steamship Co. says it is moving to Florida to join other family enterprises. New Orleans will lose almost 400 jobs as a result. Lykes, a key player in New Orleans maritime circles for 72 years, said the move was prompted in part by development of a casino in downtown New Orleans.

UMATILLA -- Golden Gem Growers no longer will juice its own oranges, a move that eliminates about 35 jobs and saves the company roughly $3.5 million, company officials said Friday. Lykes Brothers Inc. of Tampa will process Golden Gem's oranges at a plant owned by Citrusuco in Lake Wales, shipping the juice and concentrate from there to Umatilla. Golden Gem will focus on distribution, marketing and storage. "We're not dismantling the plant," grower division vice president Phil Conant said.

TALLAHASSEE - The long dispute over Fisheating Creek and the wilderness it flows through is officially over.The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission announced Friday that the papers had been signed.The unspoiled land west of Lake Okeechobee is home to black bears, panthers, wild turkeys and swallowtail kites, as well as virgin cypress stands and uncut native pinelands.Lykes Brothers Inc. of Tampa, a citrus, sugar and ranching company, owns the land alongside the 50-mile creek.

Turkey hunters may get their first chance to hunt the state's premier turkey tract _ or at least a sliver of it. State attorneys are working on a settlement with Lykes Brothers Inc. that might include the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission managing a 9,000-acre piece of land along Fisheating Creek off the southwest corner of Lake Okeechobee. The settlement comes after a circuit court judge ruled Lykes Brothers illegally barred public access to the creek, which is a navigable waterway.

The global nature of Florida's citrus industry continues to grow.Lykes Bros. of Tampa said recently the company's citrus juice processing will be handled by a Brazilian-owned company beginning in fall 1999.Citrosuco North America's plant in Lake Wales will handle fruit delivery and convert the fruit to juice or frozen concentrate. The product will be trucked to the Dade City plant of Lykes-Pasco, a Lykes Bros. division. It will be packaged for shipment and retail sale there.Lykes-Pasco President Bill Burgess, said the decision to have another company process the fruit was ``difficult'' but necessary because of changing geographies.

Meat processor Smithfield Foods Inc. said Tuesday it plans to acquire the assets and business of the Lykes Meat Group from Lykes Bros. Inc. of Tampa. Terms were not disclosed. Lykes Meat Group makes Lykes and Sunnyland brands of smoked meats, bacon, boneless hams, sliced lunch meats and fresh and smoked sausage. It has plants in Florida and Georgia.

The report that former University of Miami defensive tackle Warren Sapp failed seven drug tests sent emotional shock waves rumbling from New York through his tiny hometown nestled here in the citrus groves of Central Florida.Sapp's oldest sister, Lisa Lykes, was quietly setting up a spread for an NFL draft party Saturday morning when the news hit her like a fist in the stomach.She hadn't seen the news the night before on ESPN. She hadn't seen the Newsday reports, either. She didn't know about any of this until she flipped on ESPN just 30 minutes before the draft.

HALL OF FAME. Three giants of Florida agriculture will be inducted into the Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame during the 11th annual banquet at the Florida State Fair in Tampa on Feb. 14. They are: Charles P. Lykes of Tampa, Peter S. Harllee of Palmetto and Don Wakeman, professor of animal science at the University of Florida in Gainesville.Lykes is chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Lykes Bros. Inc., the family-owned cattle, citrus and meatpacking company in Tampa. Harllee, a leader in the tomato industry, began farming in the early 1930s.

Lykes Wells, 59, 939 Mead Ave., Winter Park, died Saturday. Born in Darlington, S.C., he moved to Winter Park from Jacksonville in 1946. He was a retired mail carrier in Winter Park and a member of All Saints Episcopal Church, Winter Park. He was a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II and a member of V.F.W., Orlando. Survivors: wife, Priscilla; sons, Ed, Mobile, Ala., Lykes Jr., Petersburg, Ala.; mother, Minnie F., Orlando; sister, Frances Claytor, Columbia, S.C.; brothers, Roger, Valparaiso, Edward M., Melbourne; six grandchildren.

PLANS TO open a $700 million casino has claimed a major corporate casualty:Lykes Brothers Steamship Co. says it is moving to Florida to join other family enterprises. New Orleans will lose almost 400 jobs as a result. Lykes, a key player in New Orleans maritime circles for 72 years, said the move was prompted in part by development of a casino in downtown New Orleans.

Chairman Charles E. Rice of Barnett Banks Inc. announced two appointments to its board this week. They are Armando M. Codina of Miami and Tom L. Rankin of Tampa. Codina, 45, is founder and chairman of The Codina Bush Group Inc., a real estate investment, development and management firm. Rankin, 52, is chairman and chief executive officer of Lykes Bros. Inc.